Concept Usage in a Professional Practice Model Description
Caring and nursing almost mean the same thing. People who pick nursing as a profession aspire to care for other people in different settings. Jean Watson theory is quite popular in explaining the concept of caring. It emphasizes on combining scientific knowledge with the caring aspects of nursing. Nurses are expected to embrace caring for their own good, and for nursing identity. In order to show nursing’s contribution to their profession, the professional practice models are utilized. Patient satisfaction is a vital professional practice model in nursing profession, as it demonstrates competence in caring for the patients. Thus, caring appears to be intrinsic to nursing practice, and emerges from reverence and concern that nurses have towards satisfying patients’ needs.
Caring Concept in Nursing
Concepts are perceived to be the imaginary building blocks in developing an understanding of a phenomenon. The main goal of nursing is to satisfy health needs of patients. Nurses cannot achieve this goal without applying the concept of caring. Caring theory involves conceptualization of care offered in nursing practice with an aim of communicating about patient care. According to Bamfo and Hagin (2011), caring is an ethical ideal of nursing, which emphasizes on human dignity and maintenance of humanity. Watson, in her caring theory, asserted that nurses have a role to build a caring bond with patients, and attend to patients as holistic beings. Nurses’ attitude and competence are essential in transforming the world of patients. Katie Eriksson’s Theory of Caritative Caring purports that human being comprises of an entity made of “body, soul, and spirit” and is capable of experiencing phenomena (Bamfo & Hagin, 2011, p. 20).
One of the professional practice models of nursing is patient satisfaction. According to Suhonen (2012), patient satisfaction is the “absolute outcome achieved in health care”, which is essential in measuring of the quality of care offered, and the providers’ success in attaining the clients’ expectations (p. 373). Patient satisfaction is one of the indicators in measuring quality of health care, thus, health care facilities are endeavoring to enhance their services to raise patients’ level of satisfaction. Patient satisfaction is essential for the well-being of patients, and depends on the nursing competency in caring for the patients. Elderly-caregivers’ relationship is determined by the level of satisfaction that the elderly people receive from their caregivers. This relationship sets the tone at which patient’s satisfaction is achieved (Bamfo & Hagin, 2011).
UC Davis Medical Center
UC Davis Medical Center is a primary teaching hospital, which is associated with the UC Davis School of Medicine. The medical center is among the country’s top hospitals, with a capacity of 631 beds. It serves as a referral center in a region of about 6 million residents. The center’s mission is to “Provide science-based, technologically precise, compassionately delivered nursing care” while its vision is to be “The highest quality of patient care provided through the advancement of nursing practice” (“Nursing,” 2015). The center’s nurses perceive nursing as a scientific matter that undertakes a holistic technique to the diagnosis, as well as treatment of real and prospective responses to ill health, with an aim of promoting comfort and care.
Definitions in Caring Concept
Caring theory usually focus on the relationships between nurses and patients for the purpose of satisfying patient needs. According to Mathes (2011), the nurse-patient relationship creates a foundation for care, which is cultivated through self-knowing and self-care. Many hospitals, including UC Davis Medical Center, have embraced Jean Watson’s Caring Theory of Nursing, which focuses on professional identity in the context of humanistic value. According to this theory, caring is an approval of professional nurse identity, as medicine identity is all about caring (Bamfo & Hagin, 2011). The theory also served to offer an ethical-philosophical base for the profoundly human dimensions of nursing.
Watson’s theory is made up of three chief elements: transpersonal relationship, carative aspects, and the caring moment (Bamfo & Hagin, 2011). Transpersonal relationship is a special relationship of humans with regard to their being-in-the-world. Transpersonal caring recognizes unity of life, as well as connections that create concentric circles of care from an individual to another, to the community, to the world, and to the universe. The carative factors offer a language structure to humans for nursing education and performance. Transpersonal caring is usually grounded through the ten carative factors, which distinguish human-to-human nursing caring contract in a given caring occasion. The caring moment is the coming together of two nurses in a human-to-human arrangement at a particular moment, which is more than the occasion itself.
The caritas process endeavors to create correlation between caring and loving within the human living processes. Caritas – a Latin word that means unselfish love, which is expressed in action –involved complex and integrative qualities, which comprise of caring, as in practicing love, kindness, as well as self-control towards other people and oneself (Ranheim, Karner & Bertero, 2012). Through caritas, nurses can connect to patients through communication to enhance their self-esteem, hence, leading as healthy life. By nature, caritas is unconditional love, thus, nurses should strive to cultivate faith, love, hope, and more learning.
The concept of caring in the nursing profession involves minding about patients, and always takes place whenever nurses have an encounter with patients. The nurses join the world of patients in the form of care, and this makes a difference for the well-being of patients. Caring reduces patient’s suffering and increases hope for survival. The belief that nurses have towards patients contributes largely to the patient well-being through hope and commitment. Caring should include cross-cultural aspects, as some nurses tend to demonstrate partiality towards certain patients. Caregivers should be competent in communication skills to enable them to deal with patients of different backgrounds.
How Caring Supports Patient Satisfaction
Patient satisfaction has been one of the appropriate methods of measuring the quality of health care. Patients’ perception determines how close their relationships with nurses would become. UC Davis Medical Center has endeavored to satisfy patients’ needs through the application of several theories, which include Watson’s Caring model, and Theory of Caritative Caring by Katie Eriksson. With Watson’s theory, the goal of nursing emphasizes on assisting patients to achieve higher degree of unity within their minds. As a humanistic science, caring has enhanced relationship between nurses and patients in a holistic view. As patients receive the require care, their values are uplifted. Preserving patients’ dignity, and understanding the uniqueness of each patient has helped nurses in UC Davis Medical Center to cultivate good relationship with patients, hence, leaving them satisfied with their services.
Conclusion
Caring is a fundamental aspect in the nursing practice, and emerges from admiration and commitment that nurses have towards fulfilling patients’ needs. Caring is almost synonymous with nursing, as either terms exhibit empathy or compassion for others. Watson’s caring theory is quite common the explanation of nurse-patient relationship, and many health care facilities and nursing homes are applying this concept to enhance their services. The three elements that incorporate Watson’s caring theory purports to explain how caring for patients improves their well-being, as well as relationship in the nursing profession. Patient satisfaction is ensured when the quality of health care is raised through proper training and communication. To build a trusting and caring relationship with patients, nurses must always be aware of any judgmental feelings that may inhibit their relationship with patients.
References
Bamfo, E. A., & Hagin, J. E. (2011). Choosing a holistic care approach for the elderly.Bachelor’s Thesis, Novia University of Applied Sciences. Retrieved on 6 March 2015 from https://www.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/34242/Finished%20thesis.pdf?sequence=1
Mathes, S. (2011). Implementing a Caring Model. Creative Nursing, 17(1), 36-42. doi:10.1891/1078-4535.17.1.36
Nursing (2015). UC Davis Medical Center. Retrieved on 6 March 2015 from http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/nurse/mission/index.html
Ranheim, A., Kärner, A., & Berterö, C. (2012). Caring Theory and Practice-Entering a Simultaneous Concept Analysis. Nursing Forum, 47(2), 78-90. doi:10.1111/j.1744-6198.2012.00263.x
Suhonen, R., Papastavrou, E., Efstathiou, G., Tsangari, H., Jarosova, D., Leino-Kilpi, H., & … Merkouris, A. (2012). Patient satisfaction as an outcome of individualised nursing care. Scandinavian Journal Of Caring Sciences, 26(2), 372-380. doi:10.1111/j.1471-6712.2011.00943.x